The most widely used such devices, known as Mach-Zehnder interferometers, work by splitting a beam of light down two paths to toggle its output. Despite their widespread use, Mach-Zehnder ...

A source beam is collimated in a Twyman-Green laser interferometer and subsequently split by a beam splitter. The “reference beam” is guided toward a high-quality reference mirror, and the “test beam” ...

A beam splitter in a Fizeau laser interferometer splits the beam from a laser source. The “reference beam” is guided toward a high-quality surface, while the “test beam” is guided toward the test ...